Unpopular music opinions

[S_M_Cumberworth]

The thing that, for me, makes Crosby the real choice -- the only possible choice -- for Entertainer Of The Century -- is that he was almost supernaturally versatile. He was a genuinely great jazz singer, no one ever sang a romantic ballad better than he did, he could record anything from a hymn in Latin to a cowboy song to a cutesy novelty and do so credibly, plus he had an impeccable sense of comedy and was an Oscar-caliber dramatic actor. And he had a performing style that, as you say, appealed to *everyone* in his time. He was cool before anybody ever had any idea what that word meant. No one performer ever dominated music the way he did in his day -- and yet he's known now only as the guy that did those Christmas records.

There's a lesson there for the Beatles, I'd say. Once the generation that really knew you is gone...

Further to your last point, I'm not so sure. Though I agree that there is an inevitable diminishing of popularity on the horizon for the Beatles, it'll be a while yet before they fall into obscurity. The marketing machine that produced them is still promoting them today, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. If they're able to sell three million boxed sets at $250 a piece forty years after they broke up, you'd better believe the machine is going to keep pushing them hard. That's $750 million in revenue. They're guaranteed cash cows. Crosby didn't have that sort of backing forty years after his peak.

 

[jamespowers]

For Lizzie
[video=youtube;ZHVmGNDl05g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHVmGNDl05g[/video]

Alexander's Ragtime Band! I have that one on my computer. Love it! :eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap
I like Jolson anyway too. Put them both together and:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap

 

[Lincsong]

[video=youtube;7kq1JQUhwVQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kq1JQUhwVQ&feature=related[/video]

 

[LizzieMaine]

Alexander's Ragtime Band! I have that one on my computer. Love it! :eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap
I like Jolson anyway too. Put them both together and:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap

If I could see any one performer of any era live and in person in his prime, it'd be Jolson. He *owned* Broadway in the late teens and early twenties, and his movies and records only ever captured a fraction of his stage charisma.

There's a Vitaphone short he did in 1926 called "A Plantation Act" which is an astonishing thing to see -- admittedly it's pretty much impossible for a modern-minded person to relate to it, because he's in blackface, dressed in ragged clothes, and standing on a cheesy plantation set with live chickens pecking around his feet. And yet, when he sings he bursts off the screen in a way few performers ever have -- he literally comes to life. If he was half as charismatic on stage as he is in that short, seeing him in person must have been unforgettable.

 

[jamespowers]

If I could see any one performer of any era live and in person in his prime, it'd be Jolson. He *owned* Broadway in the late teens and early twenties, and his movies and records only ever captured a fraction of his stage charisma.

There's a Vitaphone short he did in 1926 called "A Plantation Act" which is an astonishing thing to see -- admittedly it's pretty much impossible for a modern-minded person to relate to it, because he's in blackface, dressed in ragged clothes, and standing on a cheesy plantation set with live chickens pecking around his feet. And yet, when he sings he bursts off the screen in a way few performers ever have -- he literally comes to life. If he was half as charismatic on stage as he is in that short, seeing him in person must have been unforgettable.

Is that the one where he sings Going to Heaven on a Mule? There are some children near him as well?
Yeah, He would definitely be on my list to bring back and see perform live. Next I would want to see the Ink Spots live TV demonstration.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Is that the one where he sings Going to Heaven on a Mule? There are some children near him as well?
Yeah, He would definitely be on my list to bring back and see perform live. Next I would want to see the Ink Spots live TV demonstration.

"Mule" was in "Wonder Bar," which was one of his last features for Warners in the thirties, a picture which understandably doesn't show up much on television anymore. I used to see it on local TV in the seventies occasionally, but that particular number was usually cut.

In "Plantation Act" he sings three of his most famous selections -- Red Red Robin, April Showers, and Rock-A-Bye Your Baby -- directly into the camera while doing his distinctive wiggles and gestures. (He doesn't get into the Elvis-like hip-bucking that he does while singing "Toot Toot Tootsie" in "The Jazz Singer" though. Evidently he felt the need to kick things up a notch for his first feature.)

The most astonishing thing in "Plantation Act" is the very end. The film got a standing ovation from the live audience when it was first shown -- and Jolson anticipated this, and takes two curtain calls, three bows, and departs blowing kisses to the audience. *And he got away with it.* He was the only entertainer who could have possibly pulled that off without being heckled off the screen.

 

[jamespowers]

"Mule" was in "Wonder Bar," which was one of his last features for Warners in the thirties, a picture which understandably doesn't show up much on television anymore. I used to see it on local TV in the seventies occasionally, but that particular number was usually cut.

In "Plantation Act" he sings three of his most famous selections -- Red Red Robin, April Showers, and Rock-A-Bye Your Baby -- directly into the camera while doing his distinctive wiggles and gestures. (He doesn't get into the Elvis-like hip-bucking that he does while singing "Toot Toot Tootsie" in "The Jazz Singer" though. Evidently he felt the need to kick things up a notch for his first feature.)

The most astonishing thing in "Plantation Act" is the very end. The film got a standing ovation from the live audience when it was first shown -- and Jolson anticipated this, and takes two curtain calls, three bows, and departs blowing kisses to the audience. *And he got away with it.* He was the only entertainer who could have possibly pulled that off without being heckled off the screen.

Oh geez! Now I really do want to see Plantation Act. I must have missed that one. :eusa_doh:
Tootsie was a fairly fast number for the time. He could get away with a little more movement.

 

[Yeps]

In "Plantation Act" he sings three of his most famous selections -- Red Red Robin, April Showers, and Rock-A-Bye Your Baby -- directly into the camera while doing his distinctive wiggles and gestures. (He doesn't get into the Elvis-like hip-bucking that he does while singing "Toot Toot Tootsie" in "The Jazz Singer" though. Evidently he felt the need to kick things up a notch for his first feature.)

The most astonishing thing in "Plantation Act" is the very end. The film got a standing ovation from the live audience when it was first shown -- and Jolson anticipated this, and takes two curtain calls, three bows, and departs blowing kisses to the audience. *And he got away with it.* He was the only entertainer who could have possibly pulled that off without being heckled off the screen.

I just had to look it up after your review, and... I was not impressed at all. I heard some okay singing while watching an utterly forgettable video of a man in rather pointless blackface. I will give the blackface a pass, as it belongs to a culture I don't understand, but I was not impressed with the performance at all. Rather low energy and dull, in my opinion.

 

[S_M_Cumberworth]

There's a pretty fantastic Al Jolson parody in this Looney Tunes picture from 1941:

[video=youtube;jPJ6skE19Fg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPJ6skE19Fg[/video]

The same bit was done in a Merrie Melodies picture from 1937 called "September in the Rain". (I chose "Porky's Preview" to share because it's the superior cartoon.) The association must have been with "April Showers" (name of month + rain), but I suppose that's a rather obvious observation to make.

I'm not very learned when it comes to Jolson, but I do know my Warner Bros. cartoons.

 

[MissMittens]

Alexander's Ragtime Band! I have that one on my computer. Love it! :eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap
I like Jolson anyway too. Put them both together and:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap

Agreed. This was beyond being just a great performance, this was amazing. Thanks Rue

 

[vitanola]

I just had to look it up after your review, and... I was not impressed at all. I heard some okay singing while watching an utterly forgettable video of a man in rather pointless blackface. I will give the blackface a pass, as it belongs to a culture I don't understand, but I was not impressed with the performance at all. Rather low energy and dull, in my opinion.

Surely you jest!

Are you sure that you found the 1926 Vitaphone short?

I've never heard anyone refer to the Jolson of his period as "low energy". He is oft criticised by moderns
as frenetic, with perhaps an all too ingratiating stage presence. Perhaps his day is simply to remote
from your modern culture.

I suppose you might view Jolson with rather the same sort of bemused detatchment which I reserve
for Norwegian Death Metal, a rather funny, odd musical genre to which I wS recently introduced
by an employee.

Jolson aside, I do find this argument regarding the supposed merits or demerits of the BEATLES puzzling on a
forum dedicated to a supposed "golden era". With the exception of a very few Fantastically scarce Phillippene and Indian releases
their music was initially issued only on modern LP and "45" discs, which I couldn't imagine anyone would consider at all antique. More
importantly, the Beatles were emphatically a product, perhaps even the first fruits of the MODERN media machine, and would probably be more appropriately
treated in a modern context.

But then I'm hoplessly behind the times.

 

[Yeps]

Surely you jest!

Are you sure that you found the 1926 Vitaphone short?

I've never heard anyone refer to the Jolson of his period as "low energy". He is oft criticised by moderns
as too frenetic, with an all too ingratiating stage presence.

[video]http://www.123video.nl/playvideos.asp?MovieID=161728[/video]

Well, if it is this one, then yes, that is what I am talking about.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That's the one. Perhaps it's a generational thing, but I find the personal energy absolutely palpable in that film -- especially when you consider the way in which early talking pictures were shot, with the camera fixed at a single unchanging angle. Any energy in the film had to come from the performer himself -- and I see dynamism aplenty here. To see him live, on stage, without any of the restrictions of film, must've been extraordinary.

 

[Black Dahlia]

I don't know if this is an unpopular or popular opinion, but I hate RUSH. There, I said it!
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[Yeps]

That's the one. Perhaps it's a generational thing, but I find the personal energy absolutely palpable in that film -- especially when you consider the way in which early talking pictures were shot, with the camera fixed at a single unchanging angle. Any energy in the film had to come from the performer himself -- and I see dynamism aplenty here. To see him live, on stage, without any of the restrictions of film, must've been extraordinary.

It is probably a personal thing, rather than a generational thing. I just don't find that performance at all interesting. I will keep looking up Jolson, I am sure he did something that I would like.

On a vaguely related side note, I have loved almost everything I could dig up of Eddie Cantor.

 

[MissMittens]

I don't know if this is an unpopular or popular opinion, but I hate RUSH. There, I said it!
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BD

Not allowed for a Canadian to say that, even though I think they stink

 

[Rundquist]

Not allowed for a Canadian to say that, even though I think they stink

I can't think of a band I like less. Only Genesis (Phil Collins & Peter Gabriel) are in the same boat for suckatude. (Sorry if anybody is a fan). Just not my cup of tea.

 

[MissMittens]

I can't think of a band I like less. Only Genesis (Phil Collins & Peter Gabriel) are in the same boat for suckatude. (Sorry if anybody is a fan). Just not my cup of tea.

I take it you're not a fan of prog? LOL!!

Coheed and Cambria does prog rock with better musicianship than all of the above, with the exception of Neil Pert from Rush, who's probably the world's greatest percussionist from any era. His band sucks though

 

[martinsantos]

Loved it - and laughed a lot!

About Jolson, he is great. A really preffer him with slower tunes, exibithing his wonderful bass. And his version of "Brother can spare a dime?" is even better than Bing's.

There's a pretty fantastic Al Jolson parody in this Looney Tunes picture from 1941:

[video=youtube;jPJ6skE19Fg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPJ6skE19Fg[/video]

 

[rue]

I think this is the very best Frank Sinatra song:
[video=youtube;5C5twY6f-rU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C5twY6f-rU[/video]